'Relationship building can take years:' NGOs on engaging with DFID

LONDON — In days gone by, if the U.K.’s development sector wanted a hearing from the government, it would have sent delegations to visit officials at Westminster or persuaded a sympathetic member of parliament to ask a question in the House of Commons. This still happens of course, but times are changing, and nongovernmental organizations are finding new ways of engaging with government. Last month, the NGO Sightsavers chose the banks of the River Thames as the home for an open-air exhibition about its A Million Miracles campaign. It remained there until the end of October, promoting a drive to fund one million operations to save and restore people’s sight in some of the poorest regions of the world. The event was, above all, about promoting the charity’s work to a public audience — one million people are estimated to pass through this part of the South Bank every month. But it was also a chance for Sightsavers to engage the attention of DFID minister Lord Michael Bates, who joined them to open the exhibition. Sightsavers had previously secured an endorsement by winning a slot in DFID’s competitive Aid Match scheme, through which the government has pledged to match every pound donated by the public to A Million Miracles over the next three months. Bates’ appearance built on that victory. “We just said to the minister, would you like to come and have a look at it? And he said yes,” Sightsavers CEO Caroline Harper told Devex. However casually they are described, opportunities like these are arguably more important than ever to development charities. When DFID ended its program partnership arrangements in December last year, it put a stop to the only unrestricted funding mechanism available to DFID partners. Many charities relied on PPAs for millions of pounds’ worth of general budget support, to pay for things including administrative and overhead costs that earmarked funding cannot cover. The demise of PPAs left a substantial shortfall in core funding for dozens of organizations, including Sightsavers. “The PPA was very helpful,” Harper concedes. “We mourn its passing.” Harper gave a joint interview on camera with Lord Bates to promote the Aid Match commitment. As curious members of the public walked around the exhibition, the minister’s personal aides and representatives from DFID mingled with senior members of Sightsavers’ communications team, as well as with media. The charity’s advocacy efforts would seem to be paying off. According to its filings with the Charity Commission, Sightsavers’ income from DFID projects, including aid matching but excluding the PPA, was 14.2 million pounds ($18.9m) last year, up from 13.1m pounds ($17.4m) in 2015 — a jump of about 8 percent. This is one reward relationship-building efforts can bring, and Sightsavers’ annual report for 2016 commits to “strengthen our key strategic alliances.” A spokesperson for the NGO told Devex that global plans include another photography exhibition in December next year, this time in the United States to engage leaders at the U.N. and World Bank. In the U.K., it has included mobilizing public support to petition the British government on guaranteeing people with disabilities are not forgotten in the fight against world poverty, as part of the Put Us In The Picture Campaign. “We have quite a lot of money from DFID under contract,” said Harper, explaining that this is one of the things that helped the organization weather the storm when PPAs were dropped. The charity, she said, is also pursuing other funding streams in a consortium with other NGOs. The long-term partnership with DFID is “a relationship which grows over time,” Harper said. “We do what they ask us to, in terms of [agreeing] a contract with them and we deliver. That’s important, and then they start to trust you more, because your implementation capability is proven. “We have good relationships with DFID in the [recipient] countries,” she added. “That is also really important, because you need to make sure that the local DFID office is aware of what you are doing.” Harper said that a good partnership with DFID goes beyond just being paid to deliver services. “We have been working with them now for many years,” she said. “One of the key things we look at with DFID is that it is a policy relationship as much as it is a funding relationship. So we worked with them particularly on disability. We were very supportive and helped them draft the disability framework which they introduced.” And events like this one on the banks of the Thames can benefit the whole development community, Harper suggested, allowing an NGO and government to jointly “help ensure a positive message about aid is getting out.” Graeme Chisholm, policy manager at the Tropical Health and Education Trust, or THET, an NGO that builds partnerships between health experts in the U.K. and overseas, told Devex that as organizations plan their advocacy strategies, they should look at the mutual interests they share with government. “Be candid, and actually engage in a conversation about what DFID ministers are worried about,” Chisholm advised, explaining that THET had been “having that conversation about mutual benefit” with government and other agencies for more than 30 years. THET captures and shares data not just on how third countries benefit from skills exported from the U.K., but also “what the benefits are to the U.K. as a secondary by-product of the partnership approach,” Chisholm said. Building effective advocacy relationships can take many years, he added, referring to THET’s work alongside Health Education England as “a good example of a strategic partnership between an NGO and an arms-length body which is increasingly influential internationally.” And what about smaller NGOs that want to make their voices heard, but don’t have the size or financial clout to work directly with government? “At the moment, it’s not all so easy for a small organization to tap into a donor like DFID and find out where there is a funding opportunity or a knowledge opportunity,” said Dr. Najeeb Rahman, who sits on the board of the charity Doctors Worldwide. “Once you have that official connection, you can get that funding and grow,” he told Devex, while conceding it can be hard for charities like his to command the attention of officials and major donors. Advocacy by small NGOs would benefit from more forums and platforms that bring them together to share their expertise and “stand up for things we believe in,” Rahman said. “In the time we live in, any form of collaboration and communication expands a network.” This is something Doctors Worldwide is already trying to do: “We can allocate our roles better to smaller organizations already doing work and maybe strengthen their current activities,” Rahman said. DFID’s newest funding stream, UK Aid Connect, also aims to join efforts between DFID’s typical delivery partners and new players, namely small-to-medium-sized charities. It remains unclear how the platform will match funding opportunities to consortia, or if the mechanism will simply provide more incentives for working together. Either way, DFID seems keen to at least start a conversation between its current and potential delivery partners. Regardless of the success of such platforms, as long as DFID needs partners to deliver its goals and nonprofits need financing to continue their work, advocacy in all its forms will continue. Update, Nov. 23: This article was amended to clarify the staff present at Sightsavers’ event. Read more Devex coverage on U.K. aid.